“The slow loris is the cutest creature on the planet, and Lady Gaga wanted to use it in one scene, but it nipped her,” one source was reported as saying. “They put it back in its box and took it away in disgrace."

Gaga was filming a video clip to accompany her new single GUY (Girl Under You) at Hearst Castle, the home built by late oddball publisher William Randolph Hearst.

Cute but deadly ... A slow loris like the one that bit Lady Gaga. Photo: Getty Images

Gaga reportedly laughed off the loris attack, but it turns out she may have been luckier than she realises. Despite its cuddly exterior, the Furby-faced primate is one of the world's few poisonous mammals.

Bizarrely, the slow loris secretes poison from its elbows, which it then mixes with its saliva before biting anyone or anything that annoys it. The bite can cause potentially life-threatening anaphylactic shock.

Also on set was a baby kangaroo, which, by all accounts, behaved impeccably.